Friday, March 30, 2012

Today I got the basic maquette worked out for the upcoming "A Mule and his Marine" sculpture-- it's of course an homage to Frederic Remington's Mountain Man, but will have a fully-packed mule being led down the slope of a mountain by his Marine packer.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Today I got in the equine and human armatures, for use on the Mule and Marine sculpture!

A company makes them anatomically correct in several sizes, for ease of posing and to take away hours which otherwise would have been taken up by the artist having to correct and re-correct the proportions of the skeletal armature.

In a related subject, here's today's graphite wash sketch of Marines and a mule in the mountains of the Mountain Warfare Training Center in Pickel Meadows, CA:

Here also is an oil sketch I did several weeks ago, based on an experience in Afghanistan--

The subject is a group of Marines playing cards after dark at FOB Delhi (the same group of guys who I'd seen playing during the day) At the risk of over-featuring the subject of such Marine leisure activities, I decided to paint this scene because I've only done one nocturne before, and the lighting here was dramatic and gave for a loose brushwork I find interesting.

About Me

I am a fine artist and illustrator in the Classical Realist school, inspired by the masters of art history as I sketch and paint the world around me.
"The warrior and the artist live by the same code of necessity, which dictates that the battle must be fought anew every day.”
― Steven Pressfield